also: carmen sandiego.

you know those times when you like…i don’t know, go on vacation or have a baby or something, and you don’t drive for a week or two? and then you get back behind the wheel of a car and you’re all whoa how do i start this thing? i turn the big wheel and push the pedals to go?

that’s the best analogy i can come up with for what’s happening here. i’m sitting in front of my computer to write a blog post and i’m all
c://
READY
10: write “hello googiemomma readers!”
20: goto 10
RUN

(that’s BASIC for all you youngsters. what we rocked on our commodore 64’s WHATWHAT back in the day when computers were large and in charge!)
(p.s. you have died of dysentery)

anyway i’m still here and still planning on blogging. it’s been a whopper of a winter so far—flu (ugh) hit us. twice now elliot has gotten sick with a fever for one day and passed it on to gigi, who then ran a wicked high fever for 5 days straight. we’re starting to think it might be a conspiracy—sibling rivalry by way of biological warfare. the stomach flu (double ugh) hit us. harrison was quarantined in his room for 4 days straight (i didn’t need a repeat of Puke Fest ‘12).

the doctor visit where they said yup, she has the flu. have a nice day. thanks for that.

throw in some random fevers, sniffles and coughs, a trip to ohio to visit family (not quite as epic as this one, but yes there was an excessive amount of bodily fluids involved on the drive there and i’ll leave it at that)(unless you follow me on instagram and then you know the story) (okay, elliot puked. and puked. and puked. it was as awesome as it sounds.) so yeah, i know i’m not alone on all that.

covered in towels we stopped to buy, and finally sleeping.

i’m also still actively gym-ing. i don’t lose weight easily—i struggle and fight for every.single.ounce. if i breath in too hard near a bakery i’ll gain back all i’ve lost for the week.
but i’m determined, and i’m seeing results, so i refuse to give up.

and i’ve actually been doing quite a few projects that i can’t share at the moment for one reason or another. (gifts for people not-yet-given, upcoming series, really lousy photos i need to redo, etc…)

my hands are in everything right now.

i’m easily distracted and require a change of pace and/or scenery often. (SQUIRREL!) i rush through things, multitasking like a BOSS...at least that’s how i see it. my husband wouldn’t have the same view, i believe. and it occurred to me this morning as i poured my coffee with one hand and AT THE SAME TIME poured my creamer in with the other hand (really. who does that?) that i need
TO.

s t o p .

well, actually it’s something i’ve been brooding over for a few weeks now. i’ve seen a lot of bloggers pick their Word of the Year. and i won’t go so far as that, but i was (haha, here comes the irony…wait for it…) thinking about it and what my word would be be as i did 4.6 million other things the other day and it occurred to me:

f o c u s .

there it is, summed up in that one word.

stop, breath, focus.

BE.
be intent on what i’m doing—whether that be time with children, time with husband, making dinner, writing a blog post, exercising, sewing, reading—don’t let a hundred other things crowd into my brain and thoughts and actions. set down the phone, walk away from the google and just…focus.

as a matter of fact, in the time i’ve written this blog post i’ve also half quilted a blanket, played a battle round on the voice app with gigi (starships were meant to flyyyyy hands up, and touch the skyyyyyy), talked to my mom on the phone, and thought about dinner.

focus, shannon. f o c u s .

so there it is. one big excuse of a post. but hang on tight, i’ll be back.

and i’ll be better than ever. ;)